The present invention relates to multi-point door latches and more particularly to a multi-point door latch particularly suitable for use with sliding doors.
There remains a need for sliding door locks with increased strength and multiple connection points between the sliding door and the corresponding door jamb. The increased strength and multiple connection points reduce the chance of a successful forced entry and allow the lock to be used with relatively heavy doors and in other applications in which the lock may be placed under relatively high tension.
A standard sliding door installation, such as a sliding glass door, typically includes a latch or lock mounted in the face of the stile of the sliding door. Most such locks have a single hook or latching element that interacts with a keeper plate on the corresponding door jamb. A lock with two hooks or latches provides at least two advantages over a lock with a single hook. First, the lock with two connection points can be constructed to withstand higher forces. Second, if the two hooks are oriented in opposite directions, it precludes the possibility of tilting or lifting the door to disengage the hooks from the keeper plate and thus defeat the lock. Many multi-point sliding door locks are complex, relatively expensive and require substantial modification of the stile of the sliding door during installation of the lock. Thus, there remains a need for a simple, strong, relatively inexpensive and easy to install multi-point sliding door lock.
Most sliding door locks employ a rotating or pivoting hook as the attachment point between the sliding door and the keeper plate. The hook rotates between an unlocked position in which it is within the housing of the door lock and a locked position in which it rotates out of the housing to engage the keeper plate. Locks based on a sliding engagement mechanism may be constructed to be stronger than locks based on a rotating mechanism. It is believed that a multiple point door lock based on a sliding engagement mechanism and adapted to fit into the standard opening of a sliding door stile are not known in the art.